A legacy driven church / Legacy week 1

Luke 5:17-25 17 “One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord’s healing power was strongly with Jesus. 18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus, 19 but they couldn’t reach Him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus. 20 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.” 21 But the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves, “Who does He think He is? That’s blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!” 22 Jesus knew what they were thinking, so He asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? 23 Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? 24 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” 25 And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped up, picked up his mat, and went home praising God. 26 Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!”

Legacy-anything handed down from the past by a predecessor.

1. A legacy driven church is a passionate church with an urgent message. 
1. When churches began to meet the needs of those within their community, influence, and reach; uncharted growth, unparalleled vision and unprecedented discipleship begin to happen. 
1. If you have an urgent message and you don’t share that urgent message does that change it’s urgency?  
1. No. 
2. The message is still urgent even though the messenger may have lost their sense of compassion.
3. The message is still urgent although the messenger has lost their feeling of responsibility.
4. The message is still urgent despite the fact the messenger has lost their urgency. 
1. We generally overestimate what we can do when it comes to short term but we always underestimate what we can do through a lifetime of faithfulness. 
5. It seems like when we start something we are like I have to do this now, as quickly as humanly possible.
1. Every thing is important. 
1. Every detail matters I have to get them done immediately, I can stall no longer. 
1. So if you urgently do the right things you will likely see success. 
2. The challenge is that success feeds pride, and pride kills urgency: that’s why nothing fails like success. 
1. When we started our Christian journey the message was urgent, the mission was urgent, the calling was urgent, we must never lose that sense, that responsibility, that passion and urgency.  
1. Prayer, fasting, reading God’s Word, worship and serving others helps us to stay passionate and urgent. 
1. Get around some passionate, some urgent people of God and the fire of passion, the fire of urgency, and the fire of God will explode in and through you! 
2. In many organizations, urgency is not the default mode, complacency is. 
1. The problem with complacency is it’s difficult to see in the mirror. 
1. We see others, judge others, compare others and rarely look within. 
2. We see complacency in others and refuse to see it within ourselves. 
1. The Spirit of God is saying look within. 
2. If we could only hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
1. What is the Holy Spirit saying to you?
2. It’s time to declare war on complacency and embrace urgency. 
3. Complacency breeds selfishness, urgency breeds passion. 
1. This is why we pray and fast, this is why we worship, give and serve.
4. Urgency breeds followers, urgency breeds mission, urgency breeds hunger, urgency breeds desire.
1. You cannot change what you are willing to tolerate.
2. We need to acknowledge our sin of complacency and remember we are called, connected and commissioned to be a passionate people with an urgent message. 
2. A legacy driven church is a church that exposes and expresses God’s eternal love. 
1. What is the message of urgency? 
1. Well Jesus stated: 

John 3:16-17 16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.”

1. God’s love is not lacking in movement or self-centered; it reaches out and draws others in. 
1. Here God sets the pattern of true love, the basis for all love relationships; when you love someone dearly, you are willing to give freely to the point of self-sacrifice. 
2. God paid deeply with the life of His Son, the highest price He could pay.
3. Jesus accepted our punishment, paid the price for our sins and then offers us the new life that He had bought for us. 
1. When we share the Good News with others, our love must be like Christ’s; willingly giving up our own comfort and security so that others might join us in receiving God’s love. 
4. Gods love is eternal so no matter what I am experiencing He is there to love me through it, love me in it, and love me in spite of it.
2. Vs 26 stated that they were exclaiming, they were shouting, crying out, “We have seen amazing things today!”
1. That’s our mission, to exclaim, to shout out,  to cry out the amazing things God is doing in our lives, our friends, our enemies and our generation! 
1. God’s love is not based upon your performance but as your position as His child. 
1. God allowed His son to take our punishment in order to purchase our forgiveness. 
1. So the question is “do I trust Jesus as the payment for my sins?”
2. Have you placed Jesus in charge of your present plans and eternal destiny? 
3. If you’ve never trusted Christ, let this promise of everlasting life be yours, and believe. 
1. A legacy driven church is a life giving church. 
1. Do we bleed people, suck them dry of their time, their talent, and their resources; that’s a resounding, life altering “no!” 
1. We inspire them to pray, to give, to go into all the world and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
2. We empower them to serve, to minister, to connect the generations and love like they’ve never been hurt! 
3. We build them up so they may pursue their God given calling! 
2. The goal is not activity; the goal is productivity.
1. Let’s get together and do this, that or whatever…listen, if it’s not productive for the Kingdom of God, or those lost without Christ, why do it? 
3. Here in Luke chapter 5 it wasn’t the paralyzed man’s faith that impressed Jesus, it was the faith of his friends.
1. Do you walk and operate in this kind of faith? 
2. Do you have faith enough to get your friends right in front of Jesus? 
1. For better or worse, our faith affects others.
2. I can’t make someone a Christian but my words, my actions, my respect and my love for them can make a life giving, eternal difference in their lives! 
1. Jesus responded to their faith and healed the man! 
1. Jesus will respond to your faith...
2. A legacy driven church is a generationally minded church. 
1. When we speak of generations, we assume people understand; that includes all people. 
1. Every age, every background, every socioeconomic stance, extending over every educational barrier, including every race, tribe and people group from all over the world. 

Luke 12:16 16-21 “Then He told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18 Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. 19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’ 21 “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”

1. Urgency is where he started but complacency set in and overtook him. 
1. He’s like, “I’ll take it easy, I’m already successful, I might as well enjoy it.” 
2. The greatest threat to future success is current success.
2. He had no sense of calling, no sense of urgency, no sense of passion, no sense of the generations to come, no concern of the responsibility that was upon him for the future. 
1. We can’t just sit around talking about, or only encouraging one another in what God has called us to go and do. 
1. We must go. 
2. We must do.
3. We must make disciples. 
4. We must take action. 
5. We must continue the legacy, the commission that Jesus has handed down unto us. 
3. God gives only one reason for choosing Abraham, saying in: 

Genesis 18:19 NLT "I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Then I will do for Abraham all that I have promised.”

1. God selected Abraham because he knew Abraham would think and act generationally; that he would take the things he had learned from God and pass them on to his children and grandchildren. 
1. If you were to ask me where I believe the church has fallen short today, one of the first things I’d mention is our failure to raise up and work with the next generations. 

Illustrate here: *We need each other!*

1. We are hesitant to empower our young people; fearing their style, their worship, their ways, fearing that we’ll be out of a job.
1. Listen, I don’t have to like everything the other generations like to be impactful and influential in their lives but I do have to be present. 
2. Rather than building on the shoulders of what’s been done, the church tends to go downhill. 
1. I have to impart now more than ever before.
2. I have to make room for the younger people in my life to reach, raise up, and release the coming generations for God’s Kingdom. 

Psalm 78:4-7 4 “We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about His power and His mighty wonders. 5 For He issued His laws to Jacob; He gave His instructions to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children, 6 so the next generation might know them—even the children not yet born—and they in turn will teach their own children. 7 So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting His glorious miracles and obeying His commands.”

1. This was not a suggestion, God commanded His people to take what they had learned and transmit it to the coming generations. 
1. God’s design is for the generations to be connected, serving together and using their time, talents and treasures to impact their world for Christ! 
2. The price of dropping the baton of faith is far too high. 
1. Be intentional, pass along faith, impart belief, pour out passion and you’ll empower the coming generations! 

Matthew 28:19-20 19 “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

1. Arrest and destroy any area of complacency in your life and walk in passion, urgency, expressing and exposing God’s eternal love.
2. Be life giving and take responsibility for your generation and the generations to come! 
1. Legacy is about one generation being commissioned and delegated to hand down and impart their faith into another.